NEWSWIRE

CANADA DEFEAT HONG KONG

Canada has completed a clincial win over Hong Kong by 8 wickets on Tuesday. At the GCA in Dubai, Hong Kong skipper Jaimie Atkinson called right and backed his charges to put up a big score as they did the previous day.

It was however Canada's bowler's who did all the damage quickly reducing Hong Kong to 23-4 within the batting powerplay. With Henry Osinde (1-12) and Junaid Siddiqui (3-17) tying them down, Hong Kong struggled to 81-8 in 20 overs. Siddiqui was well deserved of his Man of Match honours for dismantling the Hong Kong middle order which included Hong Kong skipper Jamie Atkinson. Rizwan Cheema (2-12) and Maninder Aulakh (2-8) picked up the balance of the wickets.

Canada set about the run chase in a professional manner with Ruvindu Gunasekera and (14) and Hiral Patel (40) put on 36 for the first wicket. Patel and Nitish Kumar (22*) took Canada almost to the end before Rizwan Cheema (2*) joined the party to finish the job.

For his part, head coach Michael Dighton was excited that his team seemed to be gaining traction after the opening day loss to Netherlands.

"The Canadian team produced a clinical performance against Hong Kong today with a comfortable win. Our bowlers were terrific against an opposition that had racked up 167 runs in 17.3 overs the day before and full credit must go to them. Henry and Junaid were outstanding up front and were backed up through the middle and end by Zahid bhai, Manny and the skipper. Our batsmen had no problems knocking off the target with Hiral "kabaddi" Patel making a workmanlike 40 runs. We are all looking forward to the Bermuda clash at the DICS tomorrow."